EGR on 1.6 HDI

[mitching]

Hi,

Been looking in the forum for some information regarding the Exhaust Gas Recirculation unit on the 1.6 HDI engine. I have read somewhere, that the engine is very sensitive to sooth / dirt in the oil circuit. I know the EGR is known to cause a lot of this. How do you get rid of it?

Thx...

\mitching

[philkerman]

Depends on what extent you want to go? I separated the EGR unit from the heat exchanger, then took them both off the car. I then split the EGR valve from the solenoid.

For the EGR valve I used carb cleaner and an air line, and a special concoction from a friend who works at cray valley, I couldn't for the life of me tell you what was in it, but I can say it numbs your face if you sniff it for too long!

Solenoid was just carb cleaner and a tooth brush, finished with a VERY light dab of WD as it felt a bit rough, was fine after. (don't rotate it too hard because it doesn't take much to push it past it's extents, while you can move it back, it wont be smooth, and will cause you grief when it's back on the car)

The heat exchanger was totally and utterly full of crap, that was just blown out with an airline and carb cleaner (airline first).

Obviously since the EGR Heat Exchanger is part of the cooling system, you will need to drop the coolant. Navigating the Heat exchanger through all the pipes etc, is a bit of a shit, it will test your patience but it does eventually come out! If you can't be arsed with that, you could probably clean it just as well in situ, and wont need to drop the coolant.

Before you split the EGR unit from the heat exchange you'll need to check if it's been sealed with the one time clamp that you'll need to replace, of it's been fitted with the proper clamp which is reusable. Obviously don't continue until you have procured the proper clamp, should you have the one use jobby like I had.

You'll have to remove your airbox system, the EGR has 2 bolts holding it to the head, simple to remove, be careful with the gasket.

The heat exchanger is held on by one bolt, and one nut attached to a pin, which is also holding on the support for your air-filter housing.

The EGR pipe to the inlet manifold is attached by two torx screws, and also has a rubber seal, which may, or may not split when you remove it.

If you need a more comprehensive set of instructions let me know!

Excuse the poor grammar and lousy formating, I'm at work and on a phone!

Phil

[mitching]

Originally Posted by philkerman

Depends on what extent you want to go? I separated the EGR unit from the heat exchanger, then took them both off the car. I then split the EGR valve from the solenoid.

For the EGR valve I used carb cleaner and an air line, and a special concoction from a friend who works at cray valley, I couldn't for the life of me tell you what was in it, but I can say it numbs your face if you sniff it for too long!

Solenoid was just carb cleaner and a tooth brush, finished with a VERY light dab of WD as it felt a bit rough, was fine after. (don't rotate it too hard because it doesn't take much to push it past it's extents, while you can move it back, it wont be smooth, and will cause you grief when it's back on the car)

The heat exchanger was totally and utterly full of crap, that was just blown out with an airline and carb cleaner (airline first).

Obviously since the EGR Heat Exchanger is part of the cooling system, you will need to drop the coolant. Navigating the Heat exchanger through all the pipes etc, is a bit of a shit, it will test your patience but it does eventually come out! If you can't be arsed with that, you could probably clean it just as well in situ, and wont need to drop the coolant.

Before you split the EGR unit from the heat exchange you'll need to check if it's been sealed with the one time clamp that you'll need to replace, of it's been fitted with the proper clamp which is reusable. Obviously don't continue until you have procured the proper clamp, should you have the one use jobby like I had.

You'll have to remove your airbox system, the EGR has 2 bolts holding it to the head, simple to remove, be careful with the gasket.

The heat exchanger is held on by one bolt, and one nut attached to a pin, which is also holding on the support for your air-filter housing.

The EGR pipe to the inlet manifold is attached by two torx screws, and also has a rubber seal, which may, or may not split when you remove it.

If you need a more comprehensive set of instructions let me know!

Excuse the poor grammar and lousy formating, I'm at work and on a phone!

Phil

Thank you, Phil. That's good stuff.

Did you ever consider entirely removing the EGR, like blocking it and removing it from the ECU? On my 2.2 HDI I blocked it on, by inserting a metal plate by the head. Very very dirty, I don't want that into my engine. And the funny thing is that it is actually running further on the diesel gallon than before I blocked it.

[philkerman]

Originally Posted by mitching

Thank you, Phil. That's good stuff.

Did you ever consider entirely removing the EGR, like blocking it and removing it from the ECU? On my 2.2 HDI I blocked it on, by inserting a metal plate by the head. Very very dirty, I don't want that into my engine. And the funny thing is that it is actually running further on the diesel gallon than before I blocked it.

I have considered opening my flash up in WinOLS and mapping it out by forcing it closed at all revs, but I've heard a mixed bag of results on these, some even reporting that consumption went up as a result of removal.

Certainly on my old 2.0 HDI 406, it was much better without it.

To be fair, it's a fairly quick job to keep it clean once you've done it a few times, so I've just added it in to my maintenance schedule. Figured that's better than just removing it totally, as it's no way near as painful as a FAP.

Phil

[mitching]

Yes, totally agree. I'm not in it for performance. Just very very frustrated that the engine is so fragile. As I mentioned in another post, I bought the car second-hand last week, hoping it would provide me with an even better mode of transportation than my 406 2.2 HDI from 2002.

I extended my search on google later and discovered that the 1.6 HDI DV6 engine is just a disaster waiting to happen. I changed the oil + filter straight away after reading about this weakness, but didn't follow the change procedure 100 % as Citroen send notice of. So yesterday I changed the oil + filter once again, warm engine and let it drip for 30 minutes. Back on the road again. Everything seems ok, but I just have this baaad feeling.

I'm planning on removing the FAP as soon as I get my Galleto 1260 to work. It throws me an error when reading the ECU.

Should I be worried about the DV6 engine or is it preventable without hefty bills from the local PSA workshop. I wan't to do everything myself.

Could you sheed some light on your maintenance plan for your 1.6 hdi engine and experiences?

Allan

[philkerman]

Originally Posted by mitching

Yes, totally agree. I'm not in it for performance. Just very very frustrated that the engine is so fragile. As I mentioned in another post, I bought the car second-hand last week, hoping it would provide me with an even better mode of transportation than my 406 2.2 HDI from 2002.

I extended my search on google later and discovered that the 1.6 HDI DV6 engine is just a disaster waiting to happen. I changed the oil + filter straight away after reading about this weakness, but didn't follow the change procedure 100 % as Citroen send notice of. So yesterday I changed the oil + filter once again, warm engine and let it drip for 30 minutes. Back on the road again. Everything seems ok, but I just have this baaad feeling.

I'm planning on removing the FAP as soon as I get my Galleto 1260 to work. It throws me an error when reading the ECU.

Should I be worried about the DV6 engine or is it preventable without hefty bills from the local PSA workshop. I wan't to do everything myself.

Could you sheed some light on your maintenance plan for your 1.6 hdi engine and experiences?

Allan

My experiences with this engine are good, and bad.

My dads C5 II 1.6 HDI is indestructible, nothing EVER goes wrong, the worst he's had is a chuffing injector, cost £3 to fix and a few cups of tea, it's well over 100k now, going strong, and he's only followed the books schedule.

Mine on the other hand, 3 engines, and 2 turbo's in 5 years and 113k.

I do not know the reason for failure on the Turbo's or the first two engines, as I didn't own the car then. The engine that failed on me was due to a shit warranty job on a chuffing injector using cheap seals and, also not coding new injectors to the ECU when they were replaced under warranty!

Out of warranty, the chuffing came back on the same injector as before, but on removing the injector it pulled the sleeve out of the cylinder head, it wouldn't sweat back in so it was essentially fucked. So for £950 I got myself a complete engine with 28k on the clock from a 307 SW.

I clean the EGR every 6 months, and I usually do 8-9k between oil and full filter changes, of course that does nothing to stop the car being a bastard.

Interestingly enough my RPO = Friday Afternoon car! - My dads was a Tuesday! http://www.rossmarsh.com/bc.html

On the whole though, the general vibe I get, when they're looked after according to intervals, and you don't cut corners when you are doing the work yourself, they're reliable as anything else. They are complicated, but not impossible, and certainly the FAP is the source of all EVIL!!!!!!!!

Also, PP2000 is your best friend, if your keen on saving yourself money, it's worth the investment.

Phil

[mitching]

Ok, well the 307 1.6 HDI that I have purchased has done 233k km or 144k miles and I'm seeing bills for EGR valve system and repacking of some injectors performed last autumn at a Peugeot workshop. No history of greater procedures than this in the engine.

[mitching]

Yikes, the build date calculator tells me mine was done on a saturday. I hope the operator wasn't out all night...

[davidireland]

Originally Posted by philkerman

My experiences with this engine are good, and bad.

My dads C5 II 1.6 HDI is indestructible, nothing EVER goes wrong, the worst he's had is a chuffing injector, cost £3 to fix and a few cups of tea, it's well over 100k now, going strong, and he's only followed the books schedule.

Mine on the other hand, 3 engines, and 2 turbo's in 5 years and 113k.

I do not know the reason for failure on the Turbo's or the first two engines, as I didn't own the car then. The engine that failed on me was due to a shit warranty job on a chuffing injector using cheap seals and, also not coding new injectors to the ECU when they were replaced under warranty!

Out of warranty, the chuffing came back on the same injector as before, but on removing the injector it pulled the sleeve out of the cylinder head, it wouldn't sweat back in so it was essentially fucked. So for £950 I got myself a complete engine with 28k on the clock from a 307 SW.

I clean the EGR every 6 months, and I usually do 8-9k between oil and full filter changes, of course that does nothing to stop the car being a bastard.

Interestingly enough my RPO = Friday Afternoon car! - My dads was a Tuesday! Build Date Calculator

On the whole though, the general vibe I get, when they're looked after according to intervals, and you don't cut corners when you are doing the work yourself, they're reliable as anything else. They are complicated, but not impossible, and certainly the FAP is the source of all EVIL!!!!!!!!

Also, PP2000 is your best friend, if your keen on saving yourself money, it's worth the investment.

Phil

What oil do you use?

[philkerman]

Originally Posted by davidireland

What oil do you use?

Total Quartz Ineo 5w/30 - Although I must confess to using carlube synthetic for like 200 miles after the engine was put in the car, then dropped that, changed filter and switched back to the good stuff.

Phil